Shadows’ rock stars Brian and Bruce unfold legacy path
Brian Bennett was busy. The Shadows were in panto with Frankie Howerd, and Brian was using the precious time between their two daily performances to learn.
âI was doing a postal course with the Berkeley School of Music â I aspired to be a film composer and a conductor,â the veteran drummer tells me. âI was in the pit studying when Bruce Welch walked on stage clutching a script.â
âThe Young Ones was the second biggest film of 1961, so a follow-up was inevitable,â rhythm guitarist Bruce explains. âIn the first week of January, 1962, we got the synopsis for Summer Holiday â âCliff Richard and his friends drive a London bus through Europe meeting womenâŠââ
Brian recalls, âHe said, âIâve got the script; there are a lot of production numbers but no hits.â I said âIâm a bit busy at the moment, Bruceâ.â
Welch started strumming his guitar and sang, âWeâre all going on a summer holiday/No more working for a week or tooâŠâ
âIt was a very simple song, four chords, very quick,â says Brian of this spontaneous blast of musical sunshine created in the wintery cold.
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âWhen Bruce writes he gets straight to the point. I was at the grand piano and I came back immediately with the next four lines â âWeâre going where the sun shines brightly, weâre going where the sea is blueâ etc.
âThen I said, âIs that it, can I get back to my course now?â The entire composition took twenty minutes. I never dreamt itâd be Number One.â
Or that there would be a blue plaque erected at the Globe Theatre, Stockton-on-Tees, commemorating the birth of one of Cliffâs most beloved songs.Â
It was Brianâs first Number One, a source of great pride and occasional embarrassment.Â
âBefore my late wife became unwell, we were flying out from Luton to Portugal on the red-eye and a group of schoolchildren started singing Summer Holiday. I walked over and joined in; an unhappy teacher came straight up. âI wrote it,â I said, and he looked at me and said âGo away!â”
What made it special?
âEverybody had songs about lost love, or doom and gloom, but this was happy; it was light and upbeat, the lyrics roll off the tongue, and every year everybody goes on holiday,â says Brian.
âIt was simple, but itâs become a standard. Thereâs a lot of affection for that era. Affection goes out of the window now because everything is so accessible, but in those days things were special, and new, it was like when TV first came out, so to have access to pop bands and their personalities became quite attractive.â
Months later, the Shadows were filming in Athens, âdressed as Greeks and doing a dance in the square â suddenly I wasnât just a drummer. I was a songwriter and I was a movie star too.â
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Shadows’ rock stars Brian and Bruce unfold legacy path
The Shadows ignited in Sohoâs famous 2iâs coffeehouse.
Bruce, 82, formed his first skiffle band, the Railroaders, at Rutherford Grammar School, Newcastle, with Brian Rankin (aka Hank Marvin) in 1956 when they were 14.
âWhen we were 16, we came down to London for a Sunday night skiffle competition in Edmonton,â he recalls. âWe came third.â
They hadnât booked digs but a friendly theatre manager knew a landlady in Finsbury Park, a fellow Geordie called Mrs Bowman, who had single beds in her attic.
âHow lucky was that? The other two guys went home, but Hank and me decided to stay; the next day we went to the 2iâs.â
Londonâs equivalent of Liverpoolâs Tavern club was âa little sweaty coffee shop with a tiny stage â populated by stars like Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and of course, Cliff. Brian was house drummer.
âWe went there every day. If we were lucky, weâd play four times a week for 80p a night. We called ourselves the Geordie Boys and sang songs by the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, ElvisâŠâ
Cliffâs original backing band The Drifters played on his first hit Move It, but producer Norrie Paramor decided to replace the guitarist. Cliffâs manager Johnny Foster went to the 2iâs looking for Tony Sheridan but found Hank Marvin instead.
Bruce: âHank played him all the Buddy Holly licks and got offered the job. He said, âIâll do it if my mate comes too.â
âCliff lived at a council flat in Cheshunt. We went there on the bus, met his mum, and auditioned in the front room. We played all afternoon and Cliff said, âGreat youâre inâ.
âWe joined the Drifters on October 5, 1958. He hired us for three weeksâŠâ
They became the Shadows early in 59, as Cliff notched up hits like Living Doll and Travellinâ Light.
âIt was never, heâs the star and youâre the band,â says Bruce. âHe was one of the guys. It was a magical combination.â
In July 1960, the Shadows notched up their own million-selling instrumental chart-topper with Apache â 13 more Top Tens followed.
âAfter that, the Shadows would close the first half and then come back with Cliff in the second half, it was a unique thing.”
Screaming girls didnât start with the Beatles, says Bruce. âTommy Steele was the first English teen idol in 1956, but before that there was Sinatra, and we had Cliff Mania since 1958. In England, Lonnie Donegan was a catalyst for everybody.â
Brian, 83, who replaced Tony Meehan on drums in 1961, was rated the best drummer of his generation.
âIâd played with Marty Wilde, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent,â he says. âSo screaming audiences werenât new to me, but this was bigger, louder. Youâd never heard anything like it. It was unique, incredible.âÂ
Bruce: âOften we couldnât hear ourselves play. There were no monitors, no sound system. We played city halls or arenas using cinema speakers.
âCliff would say, âDo you fancy a riot?â and heâd wiggle his hipsâŠâ
âThese were days before security men and barriers,â recalls Brian.
âPeople used to storm on the stage. We were told to run straight out after the show and jump into the black car for a smooth escape. One night we got into the wrong black car â it was just a stranger parked outside. I thought heâd have a heart attack.â
Hank attracted his own fans. âYouâd look out and thereâd be 200 blokes with horn-rimmed glasses all trying to be Hank,â says Brian.
âSerious fans came with bags full of albums to sign; one guy came with two suitcases full.
âI got drum fans. Iâd do a solo and 30 blokes would stand up, light a cigarette and drum along with me.â
Early fans included the Beatles. Brian: âPaul picked us up at the Liverpool Empire stage door and drove us to his mumâs for his 21st birthday party.â
To start with, money was tight. Bruce: âIt was ten bob a night for guest housesâŠyou could either eat or sleep, so sometimes we saved money by kipping in the coach. When youâre 16 you donât care, youâre just having fun.”
âWe didnât come into a music industry then, there wasnât one. We came into showbiz. Weâd play various bills at theatres with jugglers, unicyclists, and chorus girls.â
Hence Dick Whittington with Frankie Howerd in StocktonâŠ
âWe were the band it was safe to introduce your mother to. Cliff still gets people from 50 years ago coming to the shows.â
By 1968, after seven chart-toppers and umpteen hits, Cliff & The Shadows conked out.Â
Hank and Bruce formed the harmony group Marvin, Welch & Farrer with Aussie John Farrer. And Welch produced hits for then-girlfriend Olivia Newton-John.
But when a 1977 Shadows compilation sold a million-plus copies, the band reformed.
A 50th-anniversary reunion in 2009 sold out arenas around the world.
Londoner Brian, now a widower, has written background music for TV shows from The Sweeney to Ruth Rendell. Heâs a conductor, heâs won three Ivor Novello Awards and he has written library music for decades.Â
This century, he has found an unexpected source of income from hip-hop. His compositions have been used by Kanye, Drake and East Coast rapper Nas.
Over the decades he has worked with everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Sir Ken Dodd via Richard Harris.
âGuys with talent are always easy to work with; those without talent, rely on being big shots,â he says.
Heâs currently working on his memoir, with journalist Lesley Ann Jones. Bruce has already published his.
âI remember all of those days but I canât remember last week,â laughs Bruce. âWe went to see Cliff a couple of nights ago. The years fell away. Heâs great.â
âItâs starting to feel like 60 years though,â adds Brian.
âA lot of people have left the party. When we were young, we didnât think weâd live to be 60. Iâm 83 and still rocking.â
*Summer Holiday is on the new Dreamboats & Petticoats compilation, Once Upon A Dream (3CDs ÂŁ11.99) Dreamboats & Petticoats Rockinâ Around the Christmas Tree (1CD ÂŁ7.99) is also now on Decca.